Kingship and Consent in Anglo-Saxon England, 871-978 - Assemblies and the State in the Early Middle Ages

This is an engaging study of how kingship and royal government operated in the late Anglo-Saxon period.

List of contents

1. Introduction: assembling consent in ninth- and tenth-century England; 2. Assembly attendance; 3. Meeting places and times of assemblies; 4. Royal charters and assemblies; 5. Legislation and consent: law making and assembly politics; 6. The witan and the settlement of disputes; 7. The 'further business' of the witan; 8. Symbols in context: ritual and demonstration at assemblies; 9. Ritual and reality: the problem of the sources; 10. The role of the witan: celebration and persuasion; Appendix: meetings of the witan, 871-978.

About the author

Levi Roach is Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Exeter.

Summary

In the first dedicated treatment of Anglo-Saxon assembly politics since the 1950s, Roach takes into account recent discussions of continental rulership in the early Middle Ages. He investigates the constitutional aspects of assemblies and the symbolic and representational nature of these gatherings, and challenges existing models of the late Anglo-Saxon state.

Product details

• Authors: Levi Roach, Levi (University of Exeter) Roach, Roach Levi
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 16.03.2017
• EAN: 9781316648520
• ISBN: 978-1-316-64852-0
• No. of pages: 316
• Series: Cambridge Studies in Medieval; Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; England, British & Irish history, HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain / General, Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500, c 500 to c 1000 CE, European history: medieval period, middle ages, C 500 CE To C 1000 CE